Unveiling the Scents of the Afterlife: Did Ancient Egyptian Mummies Smell Like the Gifts of the Three Wise Men?

Researchers are investigating whether the smell of an Egyptian mummy could enable them to discover what materials were used to preserve the body without disturbing it. They extracted air from the sarcophagi of nine mummies and asked expert smellers to rate the scents for contemporary odour qualities such as woodiness and sweetness. Woodsy and sweet with a hint of pistachio, was the answer.

They then analysed each air sample to identify volatile compounds responsible for certain smells. The team also hope their work can provide curators with a synthetic recreation of how mummies smell to make exhibits more engaging.

Researchers from UCL and the University of Ljubljana conducted the first-ever systematic analysis of the smells associated with mummified bodies. Using advanced technology, including an electronic ‘nose’ and trained human sniffers, they examined nine mummies displayed and stored at Cairo’s Egyptian Museum.

Related: Iran’s mummy shrunken salt heads

The findings, published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, offer a new perspective on ancient embalming practices and how museums preserve these historical artifacts.

One researcher is developing the scent into a perfume, and is calling it the Scent of Eternity.

“The smell of mummified bodies has for years attracted significant interest from experts and the general public, but no combined chemical and perceptual scientific study has been conducted until now,” said Professor Matija Strlič, lead author of the study. “This ground-breaking research really helps us better plan conservation and understand the ancient embalming materials. It adds another layer of data to enrich the museum exhibition of mummified bodies.”

To identify the chemicals released by the mummies, the team used a gas chromatograph and mass spectrometer. A panel of trained sniffers also evaluated the scents’ quality and intensity, allowing researchers to distinguish between odors originating from the original mummification process and those from modern conservation methods.

Dr. Cecilia Bembibre, a member of the research team, highlighted two significant aspects of the study: “First, new information was revealed by the smells, highlighting the importance of using our senses to understand the past. Secondly, while most of the studies on mummified bodies have taken place in European museums so far, here we worked closely with Egyptian colleagues to ensure their expertise and perceptual experience were represented, and we jointly developed an ethical and respectful approach to studying the mummified bodies.”

Related: meet the face of Pharaoh Thutmoses IV

One of the study’s key findings is the ancient Egyptians’ awareness of the link between scent and purity, particularly in the embalming of gods and pharaohs. The process involved oils, resins, and balms such as pine, cedar, myrrh, and frankincense, which still emit pleasant aromas after 5,000 years.

In the Hebrew Bible, the Old Testament, Psalm 45 offers a clue to how the ancients felt about fragrance: “All your robes are fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia”).

In Psalm 141, prayers are likened to incense. The sense of smell is one of the oldest in animal evolution. And, even if it is not the prime sense for humans, it remains one of great potency.

Interestingly, the presence of myrrh and frankincense has led some researchers to speculate about a historical connection to the gifts brought by the Three Wise Men to the newborn Jesus, as described in the Christian tradition. These valuable resins, known for their spiritual and preservative properties, were highly prized in the ancient world and were commonly used in religious rituals and burial practices. Is there a link to the materials used in mummification or at the Jewish Temple as offerings? 

Looking ahead, the research team aims to create “smellscapes” – recreations of the scents of ancient mummified bodies – to enhance museum exhibitions. This innovative approach could allow visitors to experience history in a new, immersive way, not only enriching our understanding of the past but also transforming how we engage with it.

The post Why do mummies smell so sweet? appeared first on Green Prophet.

Polluted water is a persistent problem for the country’s archaeological treasures.  But it’s a more serious challenge for millions of Egyptians, alive and long dead.

Youssef Khalifa, the head of the Antiquities Sector, told CairoScene magazine that it’s likely the mummies were unearthed by villagers engaged in illegal excavations, then discarded in the cesspool (image above) to cover their tracks. Egypt imposes tight restrictions on excavations; in October 2014 authorities arrested seven people after an illegal dig in Giza uncovered the remains of an ancient temple. Neither risk of arrest nor filthy muck deterred these thieves.

Thick layers of linen swaddled the mummies, whose conditions were radically deteriorated by the surrounding waste.  Only a few human remains could be identified, according to the ministry’s report.

Two sarcophagi colorfully painted with the images of women’s faces date back to around 332 BC to 395 AD, but the Ministry of Antiquities says little is left of the bodies. “Although the coffins were decorated with colorful designs, they were missing any ancient Egyptian inscriptions or hieroglyphics,” the ministry said in a statement. A third, empty sarcophagus was also found.

Restoration has been only mildly successful, according to Egypt’s Daily News.  Eventually the mummies and sarcophagi will be displayed at Minya’s Hermopolis Museum.

Mummies are commonly found across Egypt.  We recently reported on archaeologists from Utah’s Brigham Young University now digging in a cemetery estimated to hold over a million ancient Egyptians. It’s disturbing that villagers would drop these latest finds into a cesspool, despite understanding their historical significance. But urban Egypt’s plastic pollution and open sewage pools are perhaps more unsettling.

The post Holy sh*t! Mummies float in Egyptian sewage! appeared first on Green Prophet.

“We are fairly certain we have over a million burials within this cemetery. It’s large, and it’s dense,” said Project Director Kerry Muhlestein.  The professor from the BYU Department of Ancient Scripture presented a paper on their findings at the Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities Scholars Colloquium in Toronto last month.

For almost 30 years, BYU archaeologists have excavated Fag el-Gamous cemetery and a nearby pyramid (pictured below) which predates the cemetery by two millennia. The sites are in central Egypt, in the Faiyum Governorate. Many of the mummies date from the 1st century to the 7th century A.D., the days of Roman or Byzantine Empire rule.

This cemetery was no regal burial ground. Researchers said that most of the people buried here were laid to rest without coffins or personal belongings. Their internal organs were rarely removed; instead, the arid natural environment mummified their remains.

“I don’t think you would term what happens to these burials as true mummification,” Muhlestein said. “If we want to use the term loosely, then they were mummified.”

The lead image is believed to be of a toddler, around 18 months old, who was wrapped in a tunic and adorned with a necklace and two bracelets on each arm, buried more than 1,500 years ago. The jewelry suggests that the mummy is a girl, but the archaeologists cannot be sure.

The team also discovered beautiful items – remarkably preserved – including linen, glass and even colorful baby booties. “A lot of their wealth, as little as they had, was poured into these burials,” Muhlestein said.

Ancient textiles in excellent condition, particularly knitted artifacts, are rare finds in the Middle East where punishing climate wreaks havoc on delicate fibers. Knitting is believed to have originated in the Middle East, most likely Egypt where the earliest known examples were found, such as toe-socks. These little gems (see below) may snatch the world record from a pair of red socks housed in London’s Victoria and Albert Museum in London.  That pair came is dated between the 3rd and 5th centuries.

It remains unknown as to where these mummies came from, but the researchers do not believe the people resided locally. To date, the team has excavated more than 1,000 mummies, and each suggests a unique story.

“We once found a male who was over 7 feet tall who was far too tall to fit into the [burial] shaft, so they bent him in half and tossed him in,” Muhlestein told the audience in Toronto. Muhlestein told Live Science in an interview that is an extraordinary height given the generally poor nutrition these people had.

The team is in the early stages of creating a database of all the mummies it has excavated. When complete, the database will help the researchers study burial patterns in the area. Some early analysis is intriguing, as the database can now “show us all of the blond burials, and [it shows] they are clustered in one area, or all the red-headed burials, and [it shows] they’re clustered in another area,” Muhlestein said, suggesting that burials were segregated by family or genetic groups.

Ten thousand exhumed, nine hundred and ninety nine thousand to go.

Image by Professor Kerry Muhlestein from LiveScience

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